Top 5 Perpetual Climbers on iPhone

Best ways to ascend on iPhone

We're all striving for something, reaching for the stars, climbing that metaphorical mountain. Whatever. Perpetual climbing games don't worry about such philosphical musings - they just want to you ascend as smoothly and quickly as you can, and have a whale of a time doing it.

The perpetual climber genre isn't quite as popular as it used to be, with that related genre the perpetual / endless-runner taking up the slack. Still, there remains a uniquely precarious thrill to climbing that no amount of horizontal scrambling can match.

There are plenty of excellent examples of 'endless-climbers' out there on the App Store, so join us as we detail the Top 5 perpetual climbers on iPhone.

Backflip Studios's NinJump has a pretty (though not completely) unique approach to perpetual climbing in that you are restricted to skipping between two parallel walls, avoiding enemies and collecting power-ups by bounding between the two. It's quick, slick, and very challenging.

GoatUp is made by cult video game developer Jeff Minter, which means zany retro graphics, super-tough gameplay, and plenty of odd twists on a familiar genre. In Minter's take on the perpetual climber, you - as a goat - spawn multiple kids as you climb, whom you then use as a weapon. Odd but brilliant!

Like in NinJump, the little shaolin star of Ninjatown: Trees of Doom hops in between two surfaces to avoid obstacles. There's an extra level of control here, though, as you can pause at key points to aim your next pounce. Add in some super-cute artwork and you have a winner.

If Doodle Jump isn't the daddy of all perpetual climbers on iPhone, it's at the very least the game that kicked off the whole perpetual climber craze. Take your hand-scrawled character and tilt your iPhone to guide it on its endless ascent, bouncing off platforms and picking up power-ups.

Nuts takes the humble perpetual climbing game and renders it in glorious 3D. Guide a squirrel as it climbs a massive tree, dodging branches and finding power-ups that allow you to blaze a new trail. This one looks and plays like a dream.